Rob Ford's Toronto

[taal]

hahah ! That was too good ; - )

So true, I tune out the majority of posts here less MetroMan's ... that's not to say other posts aren't useful / interesting, but if you just want facts a good summary without reading through hundreds and hundreds of posts, that's your best bet.

Thank you MetroMan !

 

[ShonTron]

So weird seeing Patrick Stewart cracking Rob Ford jokes.

Certainly not to be confused with the Picard that posts on this thread.

 

[FalOnYourKeys]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bird

 

[kicked it in the sun]

A Ford quote from one of the Renata articles:


One of the striking things about that line of defence, both in the above quote and in its more recent expressions, is that Rob is excessively proud when he owns up to something. It's as if admitting a mistake were the same as dealing with its implications. "OK, yes, I have a serious drinking problem and I smoke crack. Now that I've admitted it, we can all move on." It's striking because it implies an ethical code where the main transgression is getting caught. The acts themselves, and what they say about the person committing them, are beside the point. It's almost like he's steeped in a criminal culture...

worth repeating

 

[evvabeing]

I don't know about that. Doug Ford SR always seemed a little fishy. I wouldn't be surprised if as a younger man who was involved in some sort of crime. But this is merely speculation.

let's remember, doug ford sr.'s dad, ernest ford, was sent to canada for being unruly...

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/07/31/rob-fords-ancestor-landed-in-canada-for-being-unruly-2

 

[adma]

I don't know about that. Doug Ford SR always seemed a little fishy. I wouldn't be surprised if as a younger man who was involved in some sort of crime. But this is merely speculation.

Could be; but given his generation and culture and all, it was probably more "a phase" (however pregnant) en route to Deco, something which at most might have taught him hardnosed ruthlessness and determination. It wasn't quite the aura of actually importing said criminality into the business a la what's been suspected of his sons--any latter-day fishiness would have been more through his knowingly condoning/enabling said next-generational criminality. That is, he might have been a patriarchal "accessory" with a cloak of legitimacy; but when it came to such criminality, his sons were "the boss". And, hey--think of it as a toxic marriage of hardnosed business sense with 70s-style anything-goes lenient-parenting: so, Randy and Doug inherited dad's "smarts" in controlling the hash trade, but at least they weren't junkies, that kind of logic. And if they didn't just "outgrow" their drug-dealing days but actively if surreptitously import such activity into the family business, Dad--understanding how the boys had a good, efficient way of covering-their-tracks--wilfully lent a "convenient" blind eye to it all.

As I said: "halfway" off the hook. Not "wholly". And you can see where the crazyland familial moral fibre comes from.

 

[adma]

let's remember, doug ford sr.'s dad, ernest ford, was sent to canada for being unruly...

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/07/31/rob-fords-ancestor-landed-in-canada-for-being-unruly-2

Almost like an "Aussie penal colony" background there.

 

[redtotal]

Actually, given the "what could it be?!?" speculative tone of the last few pages, it's interesting if understandable that *this* possibility hasn't been raised, but I'll betcha it's surely been on the minds of *some* people reading said last few pages, esp. given keywords like "underaged", so why not verbalize it at this point...

...could it involve his daughter?!?

I thought we were discussing Rob Ford, not Julian Fantino.

 

[Kat_YYZ]

Doug thinks they can tough it out, it will go away, Rob will win re-election, and he will be politically rehabilitated.

You have to remember he thinks like a gangster, not a politician. In Doug's head, this is an episode of the Sopranos and they have gone to the mattresses. I'm not even kidding.

thanks for this; I didn't watch the Sopranos but I think I get it.

It's so bizarre, though; if Doug grabbed little brother by the collar and dragged him to rehab... wouldn't that make him a hero? I mean, he would be putting family first: Don't Ford Nation types like that? Could they be so crazy as to think that rehab is for bleeding-heart pinko liberals and that there is some shame in it?? And especially if Rob comes out of rehab still dutifully insisting that Doug never knew about the drug use until this week, and calling Doug his saviour.

Well, I guess that's how a politician would think. And Doug just doesn't roll that way.

Actually that Grid/Keenan article and some of what's happened these last two days is making this take an even more sinister turn in my mind. Maybe Rob is starting to become a liability for Doug's ambitions...

 

[TOvp]

MacIntyre on 5th estate confirmed?

I have no confirmation, just thought it interesting how the Sun article coincides with The Fifth Estate episode on Ford. Sort o how all those ole time rasslers showed up at City Hall right before a modern wrestling spectacle

So Kathy and Diane did that CP24 interview without Rob's foreknowledge or permission? Am I reading that Wormington (typo, but it stays) article right?? God, what a day of total humiliation for Rob.

In normal families, women don't need permission to leave the home and go on TV.

The appearance struck me as being calculated and planned, an attempt to gain sympathy that backfired.

Speaking of women, I'm terrified for Renata. Anyone who has lived with an abuser knows leaving or kicking him/her out is a moment of agonizing catharthis. Doug Ford has said and done a lot of stupid things, but nothing has bothered me more on a personal level than telling Rob to slug back his pops in the basement.

Way to go, Uncle Dougie; encourage a violent substance abuser to get plastered in the same house as kids and wife. I don't give a flying fuck how many martial arts belts you have or how much you can bench press, when you knowingly and deliberately encourage, allow, and support a violent drunk to be near kids, you fail manhood.

Pure speculation here, but from my own experience, what I know of Rob and Renata reminds me of every co-dependent, mutually enabling couple I have ever known.

At least the Brejniaks (Renata's parents) seem normal (i.e. clean and dry) so hopefully that gives their grandkids a shred of sanity and normailty.

 

[betty183]

No honour in hiding behind your mother, Rob Ford

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/11/07/no-honour-in-hiding-behind-your-mother-rob-ford

I think we're going to see more of this, chipping away at Ford in the once place he seems vulnerable: his autonomy.

Is it possible that that's at the root of his problems (and ambitions): frustration with being infantalized by his family? He didn't take to the family business like Randy and Doug, they mention his weight, tell him he has to "smarten up," and Doug said he "beats Rob down." He's sensitive about being his own person, about being the baby brother. And the fact that they didn't consult him before doing this interview? How patronizing is that? Keep in mind, he only admitted smoking crack after Proskow asked "why do you keep sending your brother out to speak for you?" It seems like the crack admission was to punish his brother for attacking the police chief and the perception of his brother doing his dirty work. Tell him his mommy had to defend him, maybe that'll crack this nut a bit wider.

 

[redtotal]

The Iron Sheikh is at city hall and wants to arm wrestle Rob Ford.

This, is now, officially, a real circus.

After today's video (which, honestly, sounded more like Robbie regressing back to the days of Gorilla Monsoon's updates on Channel 11) I think professional wrestling may be the only thing that could save his job.

 

[TOvp]

Once Ford is kicked out, let's start a Kickstarter to create an animated web series chronicling Rob Ford's life, with emphasis on his hubris. The series would have a comical tone, yet be informative enough for viewers to learn about the facts with regards to Ford's life (including the various lies he spouted).

Who would want to do the voice acting? The animation? The music? The story? We need to come up with approximate funds needed to make this project a reality. If we make it to the millions, we can hire a renowned comedian (depending on how much we raised) to narrate the series.

I am not a renowned comedian but am a smart ass voiceover talent with some writing ability.

In like sin!

 

[redtotal]

While you're probably right, if the cops found an encrypted file they don't need to crack the code (pun intended) to get in...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law

I don't imagine gang members from Etobicoke are masters of tradecraft... I'm impressed they took the steps that are reported.

Realistically, though, these laws are kind of like the refusing to provide a breath sample charge. If someone had kiddie porn / snuff flims encrypted, and the key disclosure law was, say, contempt for two years (never mind the "I don't recall" Reagan defence in Iran-Contra), well, eat the two years rather than a possible 14.

 

[redtotal]

There was an old quote from Northrop Frye in a NY Times opinion article today: "Toronto is a great place to mind your own business." which is kind of paraphrasing this.

One of the main reasons that there has never been an Insite-like injection site set up in Toronto, apart from the conservative nature of the place, is that, unlike other cities, there is really no concentrated area where addicts live. Vancouver has the DTES (and Surrey). San Fran has the Tenderloin, and a few places in the East Bay. Toronto? At one time, Queen West outside of CAMH may have had some addicts, but I'm hard-pressed to think of a concentrated hard drug 'hood that could match Main and Hastings in Van.